After the deluge of Atrax Morgue reissues, it was a matter of time to see Corbelli's influence spread once again, this time all over the newer generation of artists and listeners. Of course, Maso Yamazaki is a living legend, but his latest project, Controlled Death, feels like a rejuvenating move. I dare to say an enthusiastic one. Even if it's morbid as fuck.

These two albums don't stray from the Slaughter Productions recipe, especially the Deathwish Tapes, which was recorded straight to tape with no overdubs. Masonna now uses sparingly a newfound black metal howl instead of his usual shrieks, but stays within well-defined death industrial parameters. On the other hand, Journey Through A Dead Body is not a nod to TG as its title suggests, but rather an autonomous entity that may has some borrowed limbs, but its voice is entirely singular.

20 October 2018

After a few releases on high estimated labels, Ester Kärkkäinen's first full-length sounds exactly like its title. Sharp, gritty and to the point.
Her sound is a hybrid of unhinged power electronics blended with a post-mortem stench, including minimal layering, throbbing synths and obsessive loops. The heavily flanged vocals, interwined into the rotting fabric of the music, are spliced into chunks of indecipherable murmurs and visceral shrieks. Don't make a mistake though and think of Himukalt as another clone of the usual PE terrorists. This is a strictly personal and original statement, a detailed depiction of self-loathing, as Kärkkäinen is mapping her psyche in front of us, channeling her negativity into an impressive album.

A juxtaposition of concentrated rage and catatonic piano segments with classically trained vocals, full of bitterness and spite. This is the audio equivalent of I Spit On Your Grave with biblical overtones.

06 February 2018

"An extreme example of a saint who was truly zealous in the mortification of her flesh and senses is Saint Mary Magdalene de'Pazzi.

Born in Florence in 1566 of an aristocratic family, Caterina de'Pazzi was a religiously precocious child. At age 10 she made a vow of perpetual chastity, secretly whipped herself and wore a crown of thorns. Although her parents were unhappy with her behavior, they allowed her to enter a Carmelite convent where she chose the name of the holy harlot, Mary Magdalene. Due to the austerity of her life she soon gained a reputation for outstanding virtue. Frequently she experienced periods of 'rapture' during which she made predictions about the future. She reportedly was able to cure diseases; one procedure she followed was to lick the skin lesions of afflicted nuns, including one who was thought to have leprosy, and to suck the maggots out of skin ulcers.

At age 20 she declared that God had ordered her to eat only bread and water. Because of swelling in her feet she often crawled around the convent on all fours and kissed the feet of the bewildered nuns. Claiming that she was being hounded by devils, she frenetically and publicly whipped her body to chase them away and threw herself naked on thorn bushes until she was covered with blood. She burned her skin with hot wax and cajoled the novices in the convent to whip her and to step on her mouth.

At about age 37, emaciated and racked with coughing and pain, she took to her bed and did not leave it until she died four years later in 1607. Her painful gums were so badly infected that she could not bear to close her jaw, until her teeth fell out, one by one. Her body was covered with putrefying bed sores, but when the sisters offered to move her she warned them off for fear that by touching her body they might experience sexual desires.

Because of her virtuous life, her miraculous healing, her clairvoyance and the presence of a perfumed fragrance that emanated from her corpse, she was beatified by Pope Urban VIII in 1626. She was admitted to the company of the saints by Pope Clement IX, who issued a decree of canonization in 1668. A large statue of her holding a flagellant whip can be seen in her church in Florence where many people from around the world still come to pay her tribute."

(The extract is taken from the book "Bodies Under Siege: Self-Mutilation and Body Modification in Culture and Psychiatry" by Dr. Armando Favazza)

The exemplary curated second volume of the infamous Epicurian Escapism compilations showcases a diverse roster of artists that serves both as a treat for the initiated and an introduction for the newcomer. If I had to pick only one track, I would get Dieter Müh's Bethlehem, which is an glorious mindfuckery in the vein of Maeror Tri and Unveiled. Luckily I don't have to.

The follow-up of Mardrömd Dödsström is a bottomless pit of sonic gunk, a sticky unidentified substance poured inside your tape deck. Flugornas Herrar means 'The Lord Of The Flies' in swedish, so you better prepare yourself for some serious occult-ridden death industrial of the highest order. Each track bleeds into the next and you can actually hear their undercurrents beneath the murk, if you're not locked into a random tribal rhythm or a dying synth pattern that managed to escape from the thick textures. These are the outer reaches of psychedelic music, albeit an inwards-looking one.

Power electronics - and its offshoot death industrial - always struck me as the ultimate expression of vulnerability. The sound of breaking apart condensed into a huge middle finger, directed towards everything with a heartbeat and last but not least, itself. If you haven't got the time to check all the classics, you can watch this and try hard not to identify yourself with Norton. So much for power then.
Meditations On Giving Up Completely is one of the really few albums out there that admits this inability to cope with everyday life, without sounding trite inside the wilderness of modern Death Industrial sameness. Because the inspiration behind the album is grey and dull, Andrew Grant narrows down his sound to its bare bones, relying more on restraint, except the sculpted ambience around the tracks. The pacing of the record shares the same ground with BDN's Kamikaze Kabaret, it's a typical grower, so give it some time and let it drown you to its misery.

20 February 2017

"To see human beings in agony, to see them covered in blood and to hear their death groans, makes people humble. It makes their spirits delicate, bright, peaceful. It's never at such times that we become cruel or bloodthirsty. No, it's on a beautiful spring afternoon like this that people suddenly become cruel. It's at a moment like this, don't you think, while one's vaguely watching the sun as it peeps through the leaves of the trees above a well-mown lawn? Every possible nightmare in the world, every possible nightmare in history, has come into being like this."

06 November 2016

"Over the past 14 years, I, John Wayne Gacy, have been appealing my conviction for the murder of 33 young men and boys. And I've been sentenced to 12 death sentences and 21 natural life's. Yet during that time on death row, over 25.000 people have written me with questions after reading the books, chapters and articles and the media's slandered accounts on me. Not to mention the fantasy movie 'To Catch A Killer'. There are 11 hardbound books, 39 other full chapters on me, 1 off Broadway play, 2 screenplays, 1 movie, 5 songs, plus over 5.000 articles which my name is mentioned in. And yet, no one of these have taken the time to actually talk to me."

Cruise (Force The Truth)

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